Controller Patents (Class 347/5)
  • Patent number: 9645773
    Abstract: An application in an image processing apparatus presents information about ink installed in a peripheral device, such as the shape, color, size, arrangement direction, and a remaining ink level of an ink tank, in a visually realistic manner using accurate graphics. The image processing apparatus acquires ink information about, in particular, a remaining ink level, arrangement direction, and the order of the arrangement of the ink tank, and displays the information about the peripheral device in a user interface of the application using the acquired ink information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Honda, Koichi Abe
  • Patent number: 9630403
    Abstract: A multichannel printhead for mixing purposes is presented, comprising a first set of fluid outlets each outlet discharging an amount of a first fluid, a second set of fluid outlets each outlet discharging an amount of a second fluid, whereby corresponding outlets of the first and second set are configured to internally or externally lead together and mix the fluids, and whereby at least the fluid discharge of the first set of fluid outlets is controlled by drop-on-demand fluid ejectors responsive to control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: BURKHARD BÜSTGENS
    Inventor: Burkhard Büstgens
  • Patent number: 9587931
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a position compensation device using visible light communication and a method thereof. To this end, the present invention receives a visible light signal which includes lighting position information from a lighting device to extract the lighting position information from the received visible light signal, and calculates a compensated position of a position compensation device by using the extracted lighting position information if a request for position compensation exists, thereby providing an exact position of a user indoors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jae-Seung Son, Tae-Han Bae, Sun-Gi Gu, Seung-Hoon Park, Eun-Tae Won
  • Patent number: 9579894
    Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus includes a discharging unit that includes a row of nozzles configured to discharge a liquid, the discharging unit being configured to reciprocate in an outward direction and a return direction, the outward and return directions being transverse to the nozzle row; and a transport unit configured to intermittently transport a medium in a direction transverse to the outward and return directions. The liquid discharging apparatus is configured to form at least one adjustment pattern for adjusting a transport amount of each individual transport during the intermittent transport. The liquid discharging apparatus is configured to form the at least one adjustment pattern such that the at least one adjustment pattern includes both an outward direction movement pattern formed while moving the discharging unit in the outward direction and a return direction movement pattern formed while moving the discharging unit in the return direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: So Yokota
  • Patent number: 9533492
    Abstract: A dividing unit generates, from input data, divided data corresponding to the first area and the second area to be printed by a recording head and partly overlapping each other. The dividing unit supplies the respective divided data to the first processing unit and the second processing unit which can concurrently perform processing. Each of the first and second processing units generates the recording image data from the divided data based on a characteristic of the recording head corresponding to a recording area assigned to one of the processing units and a partial area assigned to the other processing unit. Each of the first and second processing units then performs driving control on the recording head based on data, in generated recording image data, which corresponds to an area recorded by one of the processing units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kouta Murasawa, Shinichi Miyazaki, Yusuke Hashii, Yugo Mochizuki, Mayuko Yamagata, Akitoshi Yamada, Masao Kato
  • Patent number: 9527280
    Abstract: For a lenticular in which a lens body having low shape accuracy is disposed on one end portion, when the other end portion of the lenticular is detected, a position of a carriage at the time of detecting the end portion of the lenticular is stored in a buffer as a paper end position, a carriage motor is controlled such that the carriage is separated from a home position and moved in a main scanning direction, and a printing head is controlled such that an ink discharge having a color according to printing data is started at the paper end position. Since the lens body having high shape accuracy is disposed on the end portion of the lenticular, it is possible to land the ink onto a more suitable position with respect to the lens body, thereby allowing printing quality to be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Manabu Kondo, Yasuhiko Yoshihisa, Takayuki Tanaka, Yohei Nunokawa
  • Patent number: 9442369
    Abstract: An electro-deposition apparatus deposits a first pattern of a lithographic mask. The electro-deposition apparatus then deposits a second pattern of the lithographic mask, at least partially offset from the first pattern. The resulting lithographic mask includes a first pattern having a minimum feature resolution size and maximum pitch, and a second pattern having the same minimum feature resolution size and maximum pitch. The first pattern and second pattern are at least partially offset such that a fractional portion of the second pattern is realized and light transmission is more precisely controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Dmitry Shur, Joel Seligson
  • Patent number: 9403364
    Abstract: The present invention aims to provide a liquid discharge head capable of reducing the possibility that ink intrudes into the interior thereof. The liquid discharge head includes a head body which has a plurality of discharge holes, a plurality of pressurizing chambers communicating with the discharge holes, and piezoelectric bodies disposed correspondingly to the pressurizing chambers, a flexible wiring board electrically connected to the piezoelectric bodies, a first member having a hole disposed on the head body, and a second member disposed on the first member. A part of the second member is disposed so as to cover the hole in a plan view. The flexible wiring board is passed through the hole and is led out from between the first member and the second member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
    Inventor: Takaaki Ichizono
  • Patent number: 9370928
    Abstract: There are provided a liquid ejecting head having a high fabrication efficiency and a high reliability of an electric connector, and a fabricating method for the liquid ejecting head. A direction in which a channel forming member is incorporated to a casing crosses a direction in which a flat spring is resiliently deformed. In incorporating the channel forming member, an abutment portion formed at the flat spring is allowed to abut on the casing, thus deforming the flat spring. The flat spring is brought into contact with an inside contact pad by a resilient restoring force of the flat spring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kyosuke Toda, Kiyomitsu Kudo, Satoshi Kimura
  • Patent number: 9349937
    Abstract: A drive circuit is adapted to charge and discharge a first capacitive load and a second capacitive load. The drive circuit includes a first connection path selection section, a second connection path selection section and a voltage generation section. The first connection path selection section is configured to selectively supply a plurality of voltages to the first capacitive load. The first connection path selection section is arranged so as to correspond to the first capacitive load. The second connection path selection section is configured to selectively supply a plurality of voltages to the second capacitive load. The second connection path selection section is arranged so as to correspond to the second capacitive load. The voltage generation section is configured to generate and supply the voltages shared by the first connection path selection section and the second connection path selection section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shuji Otsuka, Tadashi Kiyuna, Toshifumi Asanuma
  • Patent number: 9302476
    Abstract: To provide a liquid ejecting apparatus which is able to eject a liquid where the surface tension is comparatively low in a stable manner. In relation to a driving signal for ejecting ink for textile printing where the surface tension is 22 [mN] or more and 30 [mN] or less from a nozzle, the interval between the first ejection driving pulse DP1 and the second ejection driving pulse DP2 and the interval between the second ejection driving pulse DP2 of a cycle T(n) and the first ejection driving pulse DP1 of a cycle T(n+1) are set to be ?t1. Due to this, in a case where medium dots are continuously formed over a plurality of continuous cycles, the ejecting intervals of the ink are set to be constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Shinichi Tsubota
  • Patent number: 9283752
    Abstract: A method for printing an image on an image receiving member is provided, in which a print head having an array of print elements moves in a scanning direction to print image lines and the image receiving member is advanced in a transport direction after printing a swath. In order to obtain various contiguous swaths of print lines without a light or dark line between the swaths, the position of a prior swath printed preceding to a current swath is determined during the printing of the current swath. A digital mask is applied to the print data that is associated with the print elements at the to the prior swath adjoining edge of the current swath in dependence on the determination of the position of the prior swath.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: OCE-TECHNOLOGIES B.V.
    Inventors: Koen Joan Klein Koerkamp, Eduard T. H. De Grijs, Robert W. M. Severt, Paul Kuiper
  • Patent number: 9288353
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include receiving information indicating a component of an image processing device has been installed on the image processing device. Status information associated with the component is stored, the status information indicating the component has been installed on the image processing device. Information is received which indicates an operation performed on the image processing device is completed. In response to receiving the information indicating the operation performed on the image processing device is completed, the component is identified based on the status information. A counter associated with the component is identified and it is determined whether the counter has been reset. In response to determining that the counter has not been reset, an interface element is presented in a graphical user interface on a display of the image processing device, the interface element enabling a user to reset the counter by selecting the interface element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignees: Canon Information and Imaging Solutions, Inc., Canon U.S.A., Inc.
    Inventor: Atsushi Kamasuka
  • Patent number: 9272553
    Abstract: First information indicates that no medium exists in an accommodating device. Second information indicates that a medium exists in the accommodating device. A recording apparatus is configured to take a detectable state and an undetectable state. A processor is configured to: in response to failure in a feeding operation of one medium, perform a retry process of controlling a feeder to again perform the feeding operation; in response to not succeeding in the feeding operation even after the retry process is performed a set number of times of retry, store the first information in the memory; in response to succeeding in the feeding operation, store the second information in the memory; and in response to returning from the undetectable state to the detectable state, perform a first determining process of determining whether a medium exists in the accommodating device based on one of the first and second information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tadao Kyotani
  • Patent number: 9233532
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet recording device for performing print control by increasing or decreasing the number of adjustment ink particles, which are used according to the speed of the object being printed even when the movement speed of the object being printed is increasing or decreasing and which are uncharged particles carrying a fixed electrical charge that takes electrostatic bonding into consideration. The present invention is an inkjet recording device provided with an ink container for holding ink that is to be printed on the object being printed, a nozzle that is connected to the ink container and discharges the ink, a charging electrode for charging specified ink that has been discharged from the nozzle, a deflecting electrode for deflecting the ink charged by said charging electrode, a gutter for collecting the ink that is not used for printing, and a control unit for controlling the printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: An Qiu, Takashi Kawano, Tsuneaki Takagishi
  • Patent number: 9220410
    Abstract: The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the control and utilization of multiple sensors within a device. For an example, motion of a device may be detected in response to receipt of a signal from a first sensor disposed in the device, and a power state of a second sensor also disposed in the device may be changed in response to detected motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Leonid Sheynblat, Thomas G. Wolf, Alexander Hodisan
  • Patent number: 9221251
    Abstract: An apparatus includes an amplifier to provide a waveform to drive a print nozzle. The amplifier also provides a current proportional to a slew rate of the waveform. A pass gate to applies the waveform to the print nozzle in response to a drive signal. A level shifter adjusts the drive signal based on the current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Andrew Van Brocklin
  • Patent number: 9216601
    Abstract: An embodiment of this invention relates to an electric device capable of controlling a plurality of elements with an inexpensive, simple configuration, and a printing apparatus using the same. In this embodiment, an operation unit of the printing apparatus switches the states of a plurality of general purpose input/output ports between low-level signal output, high-level signal output, and input high impedance for each time set in a timer by an MPU. This allows LED light emission control and switch key press detection. Also, output ports used for LED light emission control, and input ports used for key press detection are shared using general purpose input/output ports to realize LED light emission control and switch key press detection with a configuration simpler than the conventional configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hironori Naka
  • Patent number: 9216574
    Abstract: In an ink jet printer (2), where there is relative movement between a print carriage (4) and a print table (6) to print on to a substrate mounted on the table (6), the gradient of the print table at each position of the print carriage (4) is used to produce a compensated position of the print carriage (4), and printing data is sent to the print head according to the compensated position instead of the actual position. This delays or advances the release of ink, to compensate for the difference in the time taken for the ink to reach a substrate mounted on the print table (6) when the print gap between print heads and print table (6) is not constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: Inca Digital Printers Limited
    Inventors: Stephen George Tunnicliffe-Wilson, Adam Woolfe, Stephen Douglas, Nicholas John Campbell
  • Patent number: 9207699
    Abstract: An electric power control system includes a first device, a second device, and an electric power control apparatus. The first device performs an operation when electric power is supplied via a first plug socket. The second device performs an operation when electric power is supplied via a second plug socket. The first and second devices communicate with each other. The electric power control apparatus controls the electric power supplied to the first device and the second device. The first device includes a notification unit to notify the electric power control apparatus of information indicating the second device that is a device relating to the first device. The electric power control apparatus includes an electric power control unit to stop supplying electric power to the second device based on the information notified from the notification unit when the electric power control unit stops supplying electric power to the first device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masahiro Takizawa
  • Patent number: 9199452
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet recording device for performing print control by increasing or decreasing the number of adjustment ink particles, which are used according to the speed of the object being printed even when the movement speed of the object being printed is increasing or decreasing and which are uncharged particles carrying a fixed electrical charge that takes electrostatic bonding into consideration. The present invention is an inkjet recording device provided with an ink container for holding ink that is to be printed on the object being printed, a nozzle that is connected to the ink container and discharges the ink, a charging electrode for charging specified ink that has been discharged from the nozzle, a deflecting electrode for deflecting the ink charged by said charging electrode, a gutter for collecting the ink that is not used for printing, and a control unit for controlling the printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: An Qiu, Takashi Kawano, Tsuneaki Takagishi
  • Patent number: 9195237
    Abstract: A method and system of facilitating development of fluids having a variety of elemental compositions are disclosed. A graphical user interface allows user interaction with a lab deposition system to control fluid drop ejection of fluids through multiple nozzles. Fluid drop ejection and drop formation can vary from fluid to fluid, and require adjustments to waveform parameters of a drive pulse applied to the multiple nozzles. The system implements a drop watcher camera system to capture real-time still and video images of fluid drops as they exit the multiple nozzles. The captured drop formation of the fluid drops are displayed to the user, and based on the images the waveform parameters are adjusted and customized specific for individual fluid. In addition to adjusting the drive pulse that effects fluid drop ejection, a tickle pulse can also be adjusted and customize to prevent clogging of the nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Deane A. Gardner, Paul A. Hoisington, Daniel Cote
  • Patent number: 9186905
    Abstract: A new structure (FIG. 11) for a thick-film thermal printhead and a variety of implementation approaches for controlling such a printhead. In the structure of the invention, the conductive lead at each end of the heater element is switched to either the power supply (Vhd) or ground, depending on the corresponding nib data bit. The improvement over a traditional center-tap structure (FIG. 1) is the reduction of density of conductive leads to achieve the resolution of printed dots. Compared to the printhead structure of alternated conductive system, either with diodes (FIG. 2) or without diodes (FIG. 4), which both suffer from the introduction of undesirable leaking currents, the printhead structure of the invention provides the advantage of eliminating leakage current completely. Control of the thermal printhead according to the invention is based on the sequential exclusive-OR (XOR) logic operation applied to the shifted-in nib data bit stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: Geospace Technologies, LP
    Inventors: Takeshi Toyosawa, Jiun-Chung Wang, Chung I. Tan
  • Patent number: 9162497
    Abstract: A printer includes a printer body, a lid, a cutter, a fixed blade unit, a movable blade unit, a gimbal plate, and a spring. The printer body includes a print head. The lid is connected to the printer body so as to be opened and closed relative to the printer body. The cutter cuts recording paper. The fixed blade unit is provided in the printer body and includes a fixed blade of the cutter. The movable blade unit is provided on the lid and includes a movable blade of the cutter. The gimbal plate is attached to the lid. The movable blade unit is connected to the gimbal plate. The spring intervenes between the movable blade unit and the gimbal plate. The movable blade unit is provided on the lid with the gimbal plate attached to the lid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: FUJITSU COMPONENT LIMITED
    Inventors: Yoshinari Takabatake, Sumio Watanabe, Yukihiro Mori
  • Patent number: 9143646
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a setting unit configured to set a prohibition timer that prohibits shutdown when the image forming apparatus returns from a power saving state, and a control unit configured, when a shutdown time set in advance has passed, to control the shutdown of the image forming apparatus to be delayed until a time of the prohibition timer set by the setting unit is up, and to control the shutdown of the image forming apparatus to be forcibly performed when the time of the prohibition timer has been up.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Atsushi Hikichi
  • Patent number: 9126403
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet printing apparatus that, when performing multi-pass printing using pigmented ink and image enhancing liquid for adjusting the glossiness, is capable of outputting a high-quality image in which gloss unevenness due to displacement of the printing position cannot be noticed. In order to accomplish this, dot arrangement data is generated based on input image data so that the dot arrangement of image enhancing liquid includes a greater low-frequency component in the spatial frequency than the dot arrangement of colored ink on a print medium. As a result, it is possible to suppress gloss unevenness even when printing position displacement occurs, while at the same time suitably suppressing a feeling of graininess in colored ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hinako Ojiro, Makoto Torigoe, Hiroshi Tajika, Yuji Konno, Takeshi Yazawa, Hiroshi Taira
  • Patent number: 9118788
    Abstract: This invention provides a mechanism for doing print settings for a plurality of designated images by an intuitive operation. To achieve this, when a touch operation of a user for a plurality of images displayed on a screen has been detected, a display device according to one aspect of this invention displays a setting screen to set the print conditions of the plurality of images, and controls printing of the plurality of images in accordance with the print conditions set using the setting screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Katsuyuki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9108403
    Abstract: A printing apparatus including a print head including nozzle groups each having nozzles, each of the nozzle groups applying ink having a plurality of volumes from the nozzles to form dots including dots differing in size, including: an arrangement determination unit to determine an arrangement of dots to be formed by each of the nozzle groups; a size determination unit to determine sizes of ink ejected to print the dots determined by the arrangement determination unit, according to respective ejection characteristics of the nozzle groups, such that a print characteristic of an image based on the dot arrangement determined by the arrangement determination unit is within a predetermined range; and an ejection control unit to control the print head to eject ink having the plurality of sizes determined by the size determination unit in positions of a print medium based on the arrangement determined by the arrangement determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Norihiro Kawatoko, Masashi Hayashi, Hitoshi Nishikori, Osamu Iwasaki, Tomoki Yamamuro, Atsuhiko Masuyama, Fumiko Suzuki, Satoshi Masuda
  • Patent number: 9099918
    Abstract: A power supply apparatus that suppresses radiation of noise while supplying a stable voltage, and a method of supplying power are provided. The power supply apparatus includes a power conversion unit configured to input a voltage to convert the voltage into an electric power; and a smoothing unit configured to include a coil, a capacitor, and a cable in which power supply wires connecting one end of the capacitor to the coil and ground wires connecting the other end of the capacitor to a ground of the power conversion unit are alternately arranged, and to smooth the voltage output from the power conversion unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takashi Sato
  • Patent number: 9048792
    Abstract: A power amplifier includes: a modulator pulse-modulating a drive waveform signal serving as a reference of a drive signal applied to an actuator and outputting a plurality of modulated signals; a digital power amplifier having a plurality of digital power amplifier stages each including a pair of push-pull switching elements, amplifying the power of the plurality of modulated signals, and outputting multi-value amplified digital signals; and a low pass filter smoothing the amplified digital signals and outputting the drive signal, wherein the modulator includes a control section switching one of a state where the same modulated signal is connected to two or more of the digital power amplifier stages and a state where different modulated signals are connected to different digital power amplifier stages to the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Yoshino, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide, Kunio Tabata, Nobuaki Azami, Shinichi Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 9039116
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a piezoelectric element, a nozzle that ejects a liquid in association with the driving of the piezoelectric element, a driving signal generation unit that generates a driving signal for driving a plurality of the piezoelectric elements, and a residual vibration detection unit that detects residual vibration generated by the driving of the piezoelectric element. The driving signal includes an ejection pulse for ejecting a liquid, a first vibration damping pulse that suppresses residual vibration generated by the ejection pulse, a second vibration damping pulse which is a pulse different from the first vibration damping pulse and suppresses residual vibration generated by the ejection pulse, and an inspection pulse for detecting the residual vibration signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kenji Otokita
  • Patent number: 9039150
    Abstract: A liquid container includes a liquid which generates gases over time due to a chemical change in components; a liquid storage chamber in which the liquid is stored; a liquid flow port which communicates with the liquid storage chamber, via which the liquid inside the storage chamber flows out; and an information holding portion which holds time information on manufacturing of the liquid container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takayoshi Kagata
  • Publication number: 20150138262
    Abstract: Starting from a virtual representation of a flat-developing component, the method identifies and subsequently memorises at least an assembly constituted by an image, a closed line containing the image, and reference crosses associated thereto; the assembly is paginated in the virtual representation such as to define an intermediate file from which a printing file is obtained with which an RIP software program can be loaded to pilot a printing machine. If the component is to be cut, with the aim of obtaining articles bearing relative images, data is obtained from the intermediate file for managing a cutting machine which cuts the component along the closed line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Inventor: Giuseppe GALLUCCI
  • Patent number: 9033475
    Abstract: An inkjet printer 1 has an elastic ink pack 10 that holds ink, and an ink supply mechanism 5 that pressurizes the ink pack 10 and supplies ink to the ink path 4 side. The ink supply mechanism 5 has a pressure pump 15; a remaining ink monitor 52 that watches if the ink in the ink pack 10 has dropped to a specific remaining ink level; a first pressure control unit 56 that drives the pressure pump 15 until the pump pressure reaches a preset first set pressure P1 when the remaining ink has not reached the specific remaining ink level; and a second pressure control unit 57 that drives the pressure pump 15 until the pump pressure reaches a second set pressure P2 that is higher than the first set pressure P1 when the remaining ink has reached the specific remaining ink level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Yuichi Urabe
  • Patent number: 9033450
    Abstract: A printer having an internal electrical power supply is disclosed herein. A method for controlling power consumption in the printer includes receiving an image to be printed, calculating an estimated temperature of the printer, and controlling a speed of the printer to control the power consumption to keep a temperature of the printer below a predetermined maximum temperature in response to the estimated temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Robert D. Davis, Douglas Harriman, Jon Johnson
  • Patent number: 9033439
    Abstract: An apparatus including: a control unit configured to control a switch that performs switching between a charging path for charging a first power storage unit provided in a carriage having a printhead mounted thereon by power supplied from a power source and a charging path for charging the first power storage unit by power supplied from a second power storage unit that is provided in a main body of the printing apparatus equipped with the carriage and has a capacity higher than the first power storage unit; and a determining unit configured to determine whether or not the second power storage unit has a power storage capacity less than a threshold value, wherein the control unit controls the switch such that the first power storage unit can be charged by the power supplied from the power source if it is determined by the determining unit that the power storage capacity of the second power storage unit is less than the threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takamitsu Tokuda, Masao Mori, Kimiyuki Hayasaki
  • Patent number: 9028040
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus including: a liquid ejection head and ejection openings; a tank; an air communication device; a supply channel; a return channel; a supply device; an adjusting device; and a controller, wherein the controller performs a liquid circulation control by controlling: the adjusting device such that a channel resistance value of the return channel is less than a predetermined maximum value; and the supply device to supply the liquid into the inside channel, wherein, when the liquid is circulated by the liquid circulation control, the controller starts a liquid discharge control for discharging the liquid by making the channel resistance value larger than that in the liquid circulation control, and wherein the controller controls the air communication device such that an inside of the tank is interrupted from the ambient air in at least a part of a period of the liquid circulation control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shuichi Tamaki, Hiroshi Taira, Akira Shinoda
  • Patent number: 9022500
    Abstract: A system and method for adjusting the registration of an image applied to recording media in a printer. The timing of the ejection of ink from an inkjet printhead of the printer is adjusted to maintain proper registration of a first side image to a second side image for duplex printing and y registration within a second side image printing from a first color print unit, such as magenta, to a last print unit, such as black. The location of a leading edge of the first side image deposited on a continuous web of recording media is identified and the timing of ink ejection from printhead nozzles is adjusted to align the second side image to the first side image. Adjustment of the timing of ink ejection reduces or eliminates observable registration errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Roger G. Leighton, Yongsoon Eun
  • Patent number: 9016826
    Abstract: A media processing device includes a reception unit that receives commands; a conveyance unit that conveys media; a reading unit that reads information from the media conveyed by the conveyance unit; a recording unit that records on the media conveyed by the conveyance unit; and an initialization process execution unit that, after the media processing device turns on or resets, enters a busy state in which the reception unit does not receive commands, executes a first initialization process that runs a process confirming media conveyance by the conveyance unit, and then cancels the busy state and runs a second initialization process that initializes the recording unit or the reading unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kei Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9016815
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead includes an array of resistive heaters; an array of nozzles associated with the array of resistive heaters; a heater voltage input for providing a heater voltage; a fire control pulse input for providing a fire control pulse having a first pulsewidth for controlling a length of time that current from the heater voltage input is allowed to pass through at least one of the resistive heaters; and a protective circuit configured to receive the fire control pulse from the fire control pulse input, and to override the fire control pulse if the first pulsewidth is greater than or equal to a predetermined length of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Christopher R. Morton
  • Publication number: 20150109360
    Abstract: A color conversion processing apparatus calculates a hue angle of a spot color based on spot color information that defines the spot color, and then determines a spot color converting condition depending on the hue angle. The color conversion processing apparatus converts an original image signal of a spot color plate into an auxiliary-component image signal representing a color component of a process color plate according to the determined spot color converting condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2014
    Publication date: April 23, 2015
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Eiji TERAUE
  • Patent number: 9010906
    Abstract: A printer includes discharge control devices, a first ID storage device, a control data output device, a connection device, a connection control device, an assigning device, a processor, and a memory. The processor performs outputting print data, which is data to discharge the liquid by the discharge port group connected to the discharge control device, corresponding to the unique ID from the control data output device, by using a communication ID that corresponds to the unique ID, via a connection device controlled by a connection control device, to each of a plurality of discharge control devices, and controlling discharge of the liquid by the discharge port groups to which the plurality of discharge control devices are respectively connected, in accordance with the print data which corresponds to the unique ID of the individual discharge control device and which has been output from the control data output device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shumei Mori, Yohei Kuno
  • Patent number: 9004639
    Abstract: A method measures distances between two printed lines on a rotating image receiving member to identify fluid drop mass or fluid drop velocity changes in inkjet ejectors in an inkjet printing system. An initial distance between the two lines is measured at the start of the operational life of the system. During the operation of the printing system, the lines are reprinted and the distance between the two lines compared to the initial distance stored in association with the printheads that printed the lines. If the distance has changed by more than a predetermined amount, a printer parameter is adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Conor D. Kelly, Mark R. Parker, Lisa M. Schmidt
  • Patent number: 9004633
    Abstract: To provide an ink jet recording apparatus in which the residual vibration of any ink can be prevented to avoid the spread of the ink at an opening portion and to perform the continuous discharge of the ink stably. An ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head including a pressure chamber and a nozzle, the pressure chamber containing ink, the nozzle communicating with the pressure chamber and having an opening portion formed therein to discharge the ink, a piezoelectric element forming part of the pressure chamber, and a driving signal producing section producing a driving signal to be input to the piezoelectric element to change the volume of the pressure chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shota Yanagisawa
  • Patent number: 9004673
    Abstract: This invention includes an input operation unit which accepts the operation of selecting a first or a second printing medium and outputs information indicating the selected printing medium, a conveyance path, a conveyance mechanism which conveys the selected printing medium in the conveyance direction, and a control unit. The conveyance mechanism includes a main roller, a driven roller which presses the main roller through the selected printing medium, a rotation member having a cam shape, and an elastic member which deforms to change a pressing force in accordance with the rotational position of the rotation member. The control unit rotates the rotation member to the first rotational position when the first printing medium is selected, and rotates the rotation member to the second rotational position where the pressing force becomes smaller than that at the first rotational position when the second printing medium is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keisei Hakamata, Hiroyuki Saito, Takao Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8998357
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus including: a liquid ejection head including an inside channel; a supply channel; a return channel; a supply device; an adjusting device; and a controller, wherein the controller starts a liquid circulation control for circulating liquid through the supply channel, the inside channel, and the return channel in order by controlling: the adjusting device such that a channel resistance value of the return channel is less than a predetermined maximum value; and the supply device to supply the liquid into the inside channel, wherein, when the liquid is circulated, the controller starts a liquid discharge control for discharging the liquid by increasing the channel resistance value, wherein, when the liquid is discharged, the controller starts a liquid-discharge stopping control for stopping the discharge by decreasing the channel resistance value, and wherein the controller controls the supply device such that a liquid amount supplied to the inside channel per unit time when the discharg
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akinori Igarashi
  • Patent number: 8998359
    Abstract: Disclosed are a multicolor overprint control method and device applicable to an intermittent printing apparatus. According to the operating characteristic of the intermittent printing apparatus, the method solves the problems of overlap and inaccurate overprint of various colors during intermittent printing by controlling the relationship between the distance between adjacent color group modules of different colors and the motion distance between uniform segments of the intermittent printing apparatus. In addition, the method also sets different inkjet printing modes in accordance with whether the detected inkjet printing of the same color group module is in a first period, thereby solving the problems of printing media waste and discontinuous printing data. The method achieves multicolor digital inkjet printing by combining the unique motion mode of the printing media thereof, and makes printing contents flexible and changeable on the basis of guaranteeing printing efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignees: Peking University Founder Group Co., Ltd., Peking University, Beijing Founder Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Zhengsheng Zhou, Hong Shen, Feng Chen, Zhihong Liu
  • Patent number: 8995022
    Abstract: An ink jet process is used to deposit a material layer to a desired thickness. Layout data is converted to per-cell grayscale values, each representing ink volume to be locally delivered. The grayscale values are used to generate a halftone pattern to deliver variable ink volume (and thickness) to the substrate. The halftoning provides for a relatively continuous layer (e.g., without unintended gaps or holes) while providing for variable volume and, thus, contributes to variable ink/material buildup to achieve desired thickness. The ink is jetted as liquid or aerosol that suspends material used to form the material layer, for example, an organic material used to form an encapsulation layer for a flat panel device. The deposited layer is then cured or otherwise finished to complete the process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Kateeva, Inc.
    Inventors: Eliyahu Vronsky, Nahid Harjee
  • Patent number: 8985719
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus using a roll includes a power shutdown operation detector to detect an operation of shutting down power supply to the apparatus; a power supply switching unit to switch power supply condition to the apparatus; and an apparatus controller to control the apparatus. The apparatus controller controls a roll setting operation to set the roll ready for an image outputting operation, and controls the power supply switching unit based on detection of an operation that shuts down the power supply. The apparatus controller confirms whether the power shutdown operation detector detects the power shutdown operation when the roll setting operation is being conducted. When an operation that shuts down the power supply is detected, the apparatus controller aborts the roll setting operation and shuts down power supply to the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Sasa
  • Patent number: 8979231
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording head, a roller configured to convey a recording medium, an acquisition unit configured to acquire information about a conveyance amount for conveying the recording medium per a predetermined rotation amount of the roller, a recording timing generation unit configured to generate a plurality of timing signals for performing recording for one raster line according to a rotation of the roller during one rotation thereof, and a drive signal generation unit configured to generate a drive reference signal for performing the recording for the one raster line on the recording medium at a predetermined interval based on the conveyance amount information and the timing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kengo Nieda, Kazuya Koizumi, Satoshi Azuma, Koichiro Kawaguchi, Toshiki Takeuchi, Shigeru Toriihara